In a modern retail store environment, there is a need to improve the customer experience and/or convenience for the customer. A modern retail shopping facility can constitute a large physical structure filled with various product displays, service areas, associate staging and work areas, and so forth. At any given moment any number of anomalies can occur in such a facility. (As used herein, the word anomaly will be understood to refer to something that constitutes a deviation from that which is ordinarily expected or normal.) It can be helpful to identify anomalies sooner rather than later, and timeliness can be particularly important when the anomaly presents at least a potential threat to security and or safety as regards any of the retail shopping facility, customers in the retail shopping facility, and/or associates of the retail shopping facility. Unfortunately, the very size and complexity of a modern retail shopping facility, in combination with the very physically dynamic nature of such an application setting, makes it very difficult to identify anomalies let alone assess what level of concern or response might reasonably be raised by any given anomaly.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present teachings. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present teachings. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.